Brand Surgery with Dr Nick
Dodgy pedals, dodgy backhands and dodgy townships. The Drum's very own Dr Nick offers his wisdom on some of the brands that are making it big in the news.
Dr Nick,I am one of the Toyota drivers directly affected by a sticking accelerator and the company has been very quick to help repair my car. But will I ever trust the brand again? Hardly surprising, that my postbag bulged this week with letters on the subject of Toyota. Every day brings yet more bad news for the famous car marque and helps keep those crisis PR people in a job. (Do they just sit around for weeks just waiting for something like this to break?). So whilst Toyota finally gets real and comes to terms with the severity of what has happened, all eyes are on the short term and how they can recall and fix x’ty million cars around the world just like yours and not go bust as a result. But the trust you ask about can only be earned over the long course and it will probably take years to get over this. Trusting brands is all very well and easy when you are listening to the cracking sound on your new Bose ipod dock or treating yourself to a Kitkat, but driving cars that don’t work properly is when it gets serious. Brand promise is sometimes trivial, sometimes very, very serious. In the same way that you choose an airline for your summer hols with planes that are not going to drop out of the sky, safety is a critical part of choosing your new set of wheels. But I bet most people take it for granted that as long as they get the car serviced, that ton and a half of metal is going to do what it is designed to do. They are much more concerned about its looks and if it breaks down, all that happens is you coast to a standstill or struggle to get it started in the morning. Wrong. Toyota has been working very hard for many years to improve its products and reputation, and its legion of fans bears testimony to its success. But almost overnight, their world has come crashing down. Of course, they need to do everything they can to resolve the current issues. Make sure everyone knows that the fixes are relatively easy (the slim shim is tiny…), get the dealers open 24 hours so cars are not off the road for long and communicate clearly to everyone concerned. As always, some tears and a nice dose of humble pie wouldn’t go amiss, and I have already seen the head of the US operation laying his heart on the line. Shame it wasn’t a bit more believable. By admitting guilt and the scale of the issues, things can only get better. The end game of re-built trust might be years away. To get there, Toyota has to hope for no more cock-ups and years and years of painfree motoring. That and a stonking pipeline of outstanding products and fantastic service should do the trick, but it will take time. There have been plenty of great brand turnaround stories (think M&S recently or Skoda), and I see no reason why Toyota can’t be one too. But just think how pissed-off you feel right now, multiply that by 4.5 million and you get a feel for the size of their problem. Everyone is telling everyone how crap Toyota’s are, so there is a lot of work to do. If you’re a generous man, you might start trusting again one day, but they’ll certainly have to earn it.Dr Nick,
I’m planning a trip to the World Cup this summer in South Africa, but am worried about all these threats of violence. After such an improvement, the country seems to losing its reputation again. What do you think it could do?
You lucky beggar. I’d love to go to the World Cup and I wouldn’t be worried at all about the violence, its all hype. Those sort of claims always get talked-up by the red tops in their endless quest to scare the s**t out of us. Get yourself over there, be sensible and have the trip of a lifetime.I completely disagree that South Africa is going through a tough time. Given how far it had to travel and how much it has changed, I think as a brand it is doing really well. The World Cup and the fantastic film Invictus (a must see by the way) will give the story another boost and all the country needs to do is keep improving and delivering the kind of experience only it can. There is simply nowhere else on the planet that delivers its combination of awesome nature, multi-cultural life and outstanding beauty. South Africa really is unique, and if managed well, should always be an extremely successful location brand as a result. Dr Nick,
Andy Murray seems to be getting better with the press, but you can’t help thinking he’d rather not be in the glare of the spotlight. Who could he look to for ways of improving his brand? I was hoping by the time I came to write this, that our Andy might well have finally put Fred Perry’s record to the sword, and won his first grand slam. Sadly not. I suspect he’ll need to rely on Federer having an off day to do that, but at least he is getting closer.And all the time Brand Murray seems to be getting more popular. Since he has started being more himself, he seems much more believable and comfortable in the limelight. Its not that he does anything wrong, he’s just not… well, that likeable. But believe me, he will be much better off sticking with what God gave him rather than pretending to be anything else. He’s got a great sense of humour and should try and open up a bit more. Maybe he should lose the wacky wagers with his coaching team and think again about hanging out with not-the-ideal role models like Ricky Hatton. But in terms of brands, if he gets it right and is anywhere near the great man Perry, he won’t go short in his retirement!